The present invention relates generally to the field of therapeutic support pillows, and in particular to support pillows and methods for their use which are intended as improvements to the support pillow and methods described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,134, the complete disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,134 describes a therapeutic support pillow which is provided to support a small child or an infant, and particularly to hold a small child in a manner that prohibits lateral movement. Although the support pillow described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,134 has been generally successful when used to prohibit the lateral movement of a small child, various improvements are desired. For example, it would be desirable if such a support pillow could be used with an adolescent or an adult. For some applications, it would be further desirable if improvements could be made to the overall structure of the support pillow.
Many adults or adolescents participate in activities which make it desirable to support certain objects or body parts. For example, with activities such as reading, typing, breast feeding, and the like, it is often desirable to support the arms or elbows. As another example, when sleeping in an upright position it is often desirable to have the neck and head supported. As a further example, it is often desirable to provide support to the lower back.
Although some support structures have been proposed for supporting objects or body parts, such as the arms of a chair or certain braces, such structures are often uncomfortable and inconvenient to use. Further, some support structures are not easily portable, thereby limiting their use. In a further drawback, most support structures are designed only for a particular application and do not have multiple uses.
For these and other reasons, it would be desirable to provide an improved support pillow and methods which would overcome these and other drawbacks. In particular, it would be desirable if such a support structure and methods were capable of supporting certain small objects or body parts, such as the arms, elbows, lower back, neck or head. Such a support pillow and methods should be comfortable, portable, and easy to use. In one particular aspect, it would be desirable if such a support pillow could be used in a variety of applications to support certain objects or body parts.